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NOT ALL IS GUTS 'N GLORY
US Navy Patrol Boat, via Wikimedia Commons.
As a Navy Ltjg I led a voluntary ambush squad up canals off the Mekong. No, we weren't SEALS! Just young and foolish.
One of the volunteers was a cook at our PBR base out of My Tho. After inserting our ambush up a canal, within a half an hour, he would fall asleep and start to snore. So, we had to break out of the site and get back to the main river. This he did two more times, even after being warned how dangerous his snoring was in the dead of night.
Seems once he was on a supply mission to Saigon, he was lightly grazed TWICE by the same bullet. As a result he never washed his fatigues, so as not to "wash" off his miraculous impenetrability (his fatigues). That's why he could relax and fall asleep even though every one of us others were on "pins and needles."
During our next ambush preparation, I lined the volunteers up and told them about the amphetamines. At the first sign of drowsiness, they were to tap my left shoulder twice and I would give them a pill.
So, I went to the medic one day, told him the problem and he gave me a full bottle of amphetamines, with instructions that they take 15 minutes to take effects. During our next ambush preparation, I lined the volunteers up and told them about the amphetamines.
At the first sign of drowsiness, they were to tap my left shoulder twice and I would give them a pill.
That night, as soon as we had inserted into a canal and had our ambush set up, I felt a tap on my left shoulder. I gave the pill the the sailor and 15 minutes later the snoring started! Guess who fell asleep?
Well, that was the very last time that cook went out with us!
Biographical Details
Submitted From: MINNEAPOLIS, MN
Primary Location During Vietnam: My Tho, Vietnam 
Story Subject: Military Service
Military Branch: U.S. Navy
Dates of Service: 1963 - 1967
Unit: US NAVY
Specialty: Riverine Squadron
Story Themes: 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, Amphetamines, Brotherhood, Drugs and Alcohol, Mekong Delta, Minneapolis, My Tho, Navy, Read, Revelry, Riverine Squadron, Thomas Saylor
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